Friday, June 13, 2008
Recruit wanted to be noticed, got a lot more from VT visit
Names starting to surface for UVa job
Doug Doughty
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When Nick Acree’s parents took him to Virginia Tech last week, all they were seeking was a little exposure.
“We had already planned to go to two or three other camps,” Acree’s father, Van, said, “but, we told him, anywhere he wants to go to play ball and can get a full scholarship and a great education and is going to have fun, that’s fine with us.”
“We told him it was totally up to him and that we’d back him 100 percent.”
Acree, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive and defensive lineman from King William High School, arrived in Blacksburg for Tech’s one-day camp last Saturday and left as the first member of the Hokies’ 2010 recruiting class.
“When I did commit, I got a lot of e-mails from other coaches who wanted to know, ‘Did you really commit,’ or ‘Are you sure,’ “said Acree, who played offensive tackle in 2007 but wants to play defense at the next level. “That’s pretty much what’s going on right now.”
Acree said he’s been a Virginia Tech fan since he was little, which wasn’t that long ago. He said he needed a sudden growth surge to reach his current size but figured he would be big because his dad, who played basketball at St. Paul’s, is 6-5 and weighs in the high 200s.
“I’ve got it in my genes,” Nick said.
He also has the strength to have done 36 repetitions at 185 pounds during a recent combine and he is a protégé of former NFL defensive back Mel Gray, who was a member of the church they attended in Williamsburg and does personal training.
Van and Rochelle Acree are ministers and have their own congregation now in West Point, which is 30 minutes north of Williamsburg. As a freshman, Nick played at West Point High School.
“We moved from West Point to King William because of the football program that Roger Brookes had implemented in King William County,” Van Acree said. “Not saying anything about the coach at West Point because we really like him a lot, but King William had such a great football program. That’s why we moved and decided to buy a house in King William.
“We were trying to get him exposed, with the help of Mel Gray, so he could get a scholarship and then move to the next level, which would be pro. Our plan was for him to stop in Blacksburg on Saturdays before he went to the pros to play Sundays.”
After taking King William into the state playoffs, where it lost to Gretna, Brookes took the head job at Henrico.
“He’s not there anymore,” Van Acree said, “but we’re staying at King William. Zachary Just, the new coach, came in from Hanover. We met with him and Nick is just crazy about him and he’s crazy about Nicholas, and I think he’s going to bring a new light and a new era to King William football.”
AFTER TRYING IN VAIN to locate Fauquier football coach to talk about the Virginia-bound McCartin brothers, I threw out a few feelers this afternoon on the UVa radio job.
My original impression was that the position of Virginia’s radio voice would be a plum job, but what I’m hearing is that positions of this nature are coming open all over the country as schools try to cut costs with younger, less expensive talent.
I’m told that Bill Rosinski, former radio voice of the Carolina Panthers, was interested in the Virginia position but that may have cooled because of the selling requirements of the position. A younger guy who has been linked with the position is Don Munson, radio voice for Clemson baseball and women’s basketball.
Former Roanoker Brooks Berry, who played basketball at West Virginia, does color commentary on The Citadel network and recommends Robby Robinson, the Bulldogs’ play-by-play voice. Robinson is a former UVa baseball player.
A source familiar with the process said that Virginia had more than 100 applicants.
